Here's a question:

[thebitterguy]

Has anyone ever heard of anyone, ever, successfully recalling an email? Ever

Comments

[tfbretz]

I always liked what Greg Stolze said, that went something like, "What would the internet be like if, instead of 'Send,' that little button read 'Do you think anyone really cares?'"

[jeffreyab]

I did get a recall to work but I was pretty prompt about it.

[antikythera]

I've seen it done. I seem to remember a coworker sending out an email whose subject line suggested it was about a meeting date or time, and when I clicked on the subject in my inbox it said the message had been recalled. He resent the message a few minutes later (I think he'd made a mistake in the first one).

[rentagurkha]

I've seen it happen but not often. Of course, it's not like the embarrassing ones haven't been read and saved for posterity before that anyway.

[whisper_jeff]

I would guess that the only time it's possible is when the email is transfered over an internal server and never "gets into the wild." In other words, one would need to have access to the recipient's mail server to be able to delete the message before it's downloaded and I can only see that happening within a contained system.

[rentagurkha]

Oh, that's the only case where it works at all. If you send email to someone outside your mail server forget it.

[absinthe_dot_ca]

I believe that is indeed the case. Also, it requires that your e-mail back-end and clients all be Microsoft, as I don't think "recall" is part of any Internet e-mail standard I'm aware of. May the Gods bless Microsoft for realizing that standards don't need to apply to them! (And yes, that last sentence was intended to drip with sarcasm, having dealt with Microsoft and their ideas about "standards" in the past.)

[fossilapostle]

The need to make an email client that can not only recall emails, but do a small memory wipe on anyone who already read it, sort of like in Men In Black.

But then I guess you'd see everyone reading their email while wearing sunglasses...

[absinthe_dot_ca]

But then I guess you'd see everyone reading their email while wearing sunglasses...

You mean everyone doesn't already do that? :-)